Palmer’s spent half a million on ads. And for those who don’t watch ads, he’s spent weeks playing the buffoon, earning him more coverage than any other party running on Saturday, write Myriam Robin and Ania Dutka.

Voters remain deeply opposed to any privatisation, even of things they’ve never heard of, this week’s Essential Report shows. And the view that the Newstart payment is too low isn’t widely shared by voters.

An Essential poll has found the Coalition’s tough line on asylum seekers is popular with the public, who don’t think most are genuine refugees. And people remain fairly evenly split on whether anthropogenic climate change is real.